This invention relates to the field of harvester devices, and more particularly to the field of corn cob cutters.
The shucking of corn kernels from corn cobs has been done for over a thousand years. Improvements in the field take place rapidly, the most important improvement being the mechanization of the shucking procedure. Since corn cobs are grown in non-uniform sizes, the art of removing the kernels, while not removing an excessive amount of the corn cob itself, has been the object of much research and development.
The standard corn cutting machine has been well known in the art since the early 1930's. A common corn cutting machine now in service is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,787,273, issued to C. E. Kerr in 1957. FIG. 7 of the Kerr patent shows the corn cob cutting knife manufactured as one piece. A new and improved design for the knife is the current subject of this patent. This improved design is basically of two-part construction, having a base and a cutting blade insert. The instant cutting blade insert is unique in that the blade insert improves the corn cob cutting performance by changing the position of the knife surface that rides on the cob.
Many cutter knives are in common use throughout the trade and their shape is largely determined by the machines currently in use in the agricultural harvesting of corn. This invention particularly relates to the knife as shown generally in the Kerr Patent, FIG. 7.
Much attention has been drawn to the manufacture of a suitable knife. The sharpness of the knife, as well as the length of service time has been a main object of exploration in this field. Additionally, because corn cobs come in various sizes and are usually tapered within the individual cob itself, there has been a long felt need to develop a knife which will suitably remove the kernels of corn from the cob while not also cutting the cob itself. Cutting the cob itself during the harvesting of corn kernels not only adds unwanted material to the kernel product, it also tends to dull the knife thus requiring frequent sharpening or complete substitution of the knife.
One approach to the problem of dulling the knives is described in the 1989 United States Patent issued to Maruska, patent number 4,802,495. The Maruska patent directed itself to a method and apparatus for renewing cutting edges in corn processing equipment by providing a replaceable blade for the cutting knife. The replaceable blade is held in place by means of a screw and shoe. The shoe is shown and described in FIG. 11 of the '495 patent. However, both Kerr and Maruska fail to solve the problem or rapid dulling of the blade cutting edge or the cutting edge chipping or breaking. The point of the cutting edge cuts the most corn and is damaged or dulled first.
It is an object of this invention to provide a new cob cutting blade which has the added feature of reducing the knife point digging into the cob, therefore increasing blade cutting life. In taking into account the different dimensions of corn ears, a method is described by which a precise radius and angle of taper of the knife are determined so that the optimum attack angles for the knife are produced.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a unique and replaceable cutting blade insert designed so that cutting into the cob itself during the shucking procedure is reduced. It is a further object of this invention to provide a new cob cutting blade insert that will last longer and stay sharper than the conventional knives now in use. It is further an object of this invention to provide a cob cutting blade insert that may be made of high quality steel and yet is economical to manufacture and use in the cob cutting process.
Other and further objects of this invention will become obvious upon reading the following Specification.